"Compassion, but with a new
frankness." Was a hallmark of the
Gerhard years at the hospital. Like
his predecessor, he regularly wrote
to the families of patients, at
times he wrote as many as six or seven letters
a day for different patients. The new superintendent tried
to be hopeful when ever possible,
but he could also be direct and blunt if
there was little hope for
improvement. It was customary during this
time period that the superintendent and his
family on the grounds of the
hospital. When the hospital trustees
inspected the recently vacated home
of John Curwen on the third floor they
found it to be in a state of
disrepair. They immediately
authorized Gerhard to get the rooms back in proper shape.
Although some had viewed the
previous superintendent's use of
funds with skepticism, most of the
maintenance funding had been spent
on moral treatment improvements,
such as ventilating and heating
systems, gas and sewer works,
outbuildings for the farm, iron fire
escapes, and ground beautification,
not basic structural enhancements to
the Main
Building. During the second
year of the new superintendent's
term, Gerhard openly, and to some,
startlingly, called for the
replacement of the entire Main
Building. He wrote that he believed
that the building was built poorly
and unsatisfactory and had been a
constant expense to keep in good
repair. Gerhard pushed to have the
hospital rebuilt following the new
building concept known as the
"Cottage Plan". In this building
plan, rather than have all the patients contained in a single
large
building, they would build multiple
smaller buildings. Each building
would house a specific type of
patient. Though Gerhard would not be
there to see it, the Pennsylvania
State Lunatic Hospital would
eventually transform between the the
years 1893 and 1912 and adopt the
new cottage plan.

During the 1880s much improvement
was made at the hospital under the
supervision of Gerhard. A new sewer
was constructed in 1882 to carry off
the waste from all the water closets. All the excavating
for the new sewer system was done by
patients, the value of the labor was
estimated at $1,500. A lake was dug
in the hollow to the south
east near the water works.
At the head of the lake a
20x60 foot
Ice House was built. A
new kitchen and laundry were
built.
Enlargements were also made
to the farm and the water
works.

The Ice House and lake
during winter

On
the night of March 5, 1881 a large
fire gutted the majority of the new
state hospital in Danville. As a
result the hospital received a large
influx of female patients who would
reside at the hospital until
Danville could be rebuilt. This only
added to already overcrowded
conditions.

Despite all the improvements made
under Gerhard there were still many problem remaining
with the Main Building. An 1884
report exposed many of the problems,
including many potential fire
hazards. The building itself was not
fire proof. Because there
was no basement all the heating and
ventilation was carried though dirt
tunnels below the building. These tunnels were
only 4 feet high and would
constantly fill with mud. The steam pipes
that heated the hospital were
supported by wooden trestles. The
dry, wooden trestles were subject to
extreme heat at all times during the
months that heat was needed in the
building. Wooden
flues carried fresh air and heat
into the building. These flues did not have any
metal lining and in the event of a
fire; they would effectively aid the
fire in traveling through the whole
building in a very short period of
time.
Besides the numerous fire hazards, the 1884
report also cited the poor
ventilation system. “The ventilation
of the building is bad from the
quality of the air driven through it
by the fan. The air is impure and
loaded with damp moisture absorbed
from the tunnels while being driven
though them to the stream
radiators.”
When the 1884 report was published
it was recommended that new
buildings be constructed to replace
the Main Building. “In consideration of
these facts, we recommend that new
buildings be erected at a probable
cost of $500,000, and that the
present legislature appropriate
$100,000 for the commencement of
said new hospital buildings.” In
1884 however the House Appropriation
Committee failed to concur with the
views of the report, and recommended
that $500 be appropriated for the
purpose of applying metal flues to
the building.